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May 27th, 2014, 6:30 pm ·

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Californians have a new way of voting: an open primary that allows them to vote for any candidate, not just one from the party they’re registered with.

But campaign consultants haven’t altered their strategies for seeking votes.

Democrats still focus on courting Democratic voters and Republicans concentrate on Republican voters (but both major parties court independents.)

On Monday, I spoke to campaign consultants in the hotly contested 31st Congressional District campaign to find out why they aren’t trying to lure voters from the opposite party to cast ballots for their candidates.

Remember, this is the congressional district in which two Republicans faced off in the November 2012 general election because in the June primary five Democrats fractured the vote. Democrats were disenfranchised in the runoff.

The open primary sends the two candidates with the most votes, regardless of party, on to the general election.

John S. Thomas, chief strategist for Republican Paul Chabot, said Chabot’s campaign believes his message resonates with people of every party.

But the campaign’s “paid communications” – such as fliers sent directly to voters’ mailboxes – focus on Republicans, independents and decline-to-state voters, Thomas said.

Mark Warren, campaign manager for Democrat Eloise Gomez Reyes, said her campaign is focusing on Democrats, independents and unaffiliated voters who’ve shown a high propensity to turn out in primaries. Gomez Reyes’ campaign is also sending direct mail, although she also is airing commercials on cable TV. Cable ads can be targeted to households whose occupants share a candidate’s core values.

Jeff Corless, strategist for Republican Lesli Gooch, said her campaign includes messaging to voters outside the Republican Party, such as female Democrats.

“The days of running a campaign to only one type of voter are over,” he said. But he also said that in a primary, “You focus on your base,” or your own party.

Boris Medzhibovsky, campaign manager for Democrat Pete Aguilar, gave the explanation that made the most sense.

He said voters who turn out in midterm primaries tend to be highly partisan, voting only for candidates of their own party. Campaigns have limited dollars, so they spend them to reach voters they have a chance of persuading.

Four Democrats and three Republicans are seeking the 31st Congressional seat, which stretches from Upland to Redlands. Incumbent Gary Miller, R-Rancho Cucamonga, isn’t seeking re-election, so the race is wide open.

Mailboxes in the district have been groaning under the weight of campaign mailers in recent weeks, some days as many as three from the same candidate.

One night, I came home to find three messages of the same robocall on my voicemail, each dialed from a different area code.

Mailers aren’t the only old-school campaign tactic being deployed in the race. Democrat Joe Baca, who lost his seat in Congress in 2012, bought space on billboards on I-15 near Rancho Cucamonga and I-215 in Colton.

Billboards cast a wide net, visible to anyone who drives by, not just people who live in the district. They’re not targeted the way modern campaigns practice.

Billboards help with name identification. But that’s not what Baca (who served in the state Assembly and state Senate before his 12 years in Congress) needs, said Jack Pitney, political scientist at Claremont McKenna College.

“He’s just wasting his money,” Pitney said.

The billboards re-brand him as “Veteran Joe Baca” instead of his usual moniker, “Working Joe.” The military background appeals to many voters.

Baca is benefiting from an independent-expenditure committee. Cal Voters for Honest Government is paying for robocalls that tout Baca while bashing Aguilar as “Pete-noccio” and saying the hit pieces he mailed out against Baca are “full of half-truths, misrepresentations and diversions.”

Is it a smart buy? Robocalls are annoying and risk turning off voters.

Democrats hold a slight majority in voter registration in the district; one nonpartisan analyst said it “leans Democratic.”

I doubt it. It has a very conservative record, electing Republicans again and again to Congress, the Assembly and the state Senate.

In addition, Republicans have a reputation for turning out to vote more reliably than Democrats. And midterm elections – the ones that fall between presidential contests – have a reputation for being unkind to which ever party holds the White House.

I don’t think we’ll see another GOP vs. GOP runoff. But everyone agrees it’s going to be a very close race.

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